Monday, November 19, 2007

Top 20 Australian Beers

The momentum of positive press for decent beers in the mainstream media continues. The Weekend Australia 'magazine' published a number of articles by Peter Lalor (anyone got any background on this guy?) as part of the James Halliday Top 100 Wine special. It was great to see Murray's getting some coverage, as well as a decent overview of the local micro scene.

A top 20 list was also published...not a bad list but not perfect (in my humble opinion), and perhaps lacked a little 'cutting edge'? Anyway, in alphabetical order:

Friday, November 16, 2007

Cellar Notes - Boon Oude Geuze

2002 - 2003 Blend / Tasted October 2007 (13/20)Thin fizzy head; good retention and very uniform. Colour is fairly typical; orange / very light brown, almost a touch murky. Classic nose of sour fruits, fermenting wine - good lift. Flavours are by no means bold and are similar to the aromas. No bracing acidity or sourness (as I had expected). It's all rather elegant, but perhaps to a fault. The tasting 12 months previously wasn't super impressive - perhaps this beer is better consumed younger?2003 - 2004 Blend / Tasted October 2006 (16/20)The real deal. Dry, sour, almost painfully so, a little smokey. Sour grape notes on the bouquet are striking and remind of visit to a winery during fermentation. Dirty sulphur-like notes appear on the palate early - a slight distraction. Finishes sour and hard. Very young despite the fact there’s a little ageing on this sample.

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Recent Tasting Notes

Jamieson Raspberry (10/20)

This has got to be a better beer than the 8% overall rating on http://www.ratebeer.com/ suggests. Dull, dirty blood red, looks serious. Mildly fruited and flavoured nose of raspberry fruits. Subtle flavours to taste, not helped but a fair chunk of fizz. Palate is quite dry through with a hint of bitterness. I can see why people think it’s a crap beer but I really liked the understated and dry structure.

Scheldebrouwerij Witheer (13/20)

I reckon this is pretty good. Murky dull orange, giving the impression it has been subject to low levels of filtering. Nose holds interest; sweet talcum powder and minerals, spice and citrus fruits. Flavours broadly in line with the nose, although the sweet confectionary note gets stronger and is a little off-putting for me.

Anchor Libery Ale (15/20)

Nice ’glowing’ brown with a decent creamy thin head. Hops show through strongly on the nose; resiny, green & sweet herbal fruits, a smokey and almost minerally edge as well. Pretty attractive actually. Palate continues with the hop theme with a slightly hard and bitter finish, and the fainest hint of a fruity malt character you might see in an English bitter. Plenty of fizz, not too much, and a good resiny hop drive on the finish.

Recent Tasting Notes

Erdinger Champ (6/20)Amazingly bland wheat beer. Mildy flavoured in every facet and only offers a mildy sticky and sweet corn syrup-like finish. Quite a surprise given most of the other beers from this house are decent.

Zatec Blue Label Pilsner (11/20)Different take on the text book standard for the style. Fruity, aromatic style on both the nose and palate. Almost like a fruity pale ale of English ale in this respect. Pilsner malts kick in late with very mild bitterness.

Hahn Pale Ale (11/20)Looks quite good for a beer from this producer; glowing orange with lemon coloured edges and a nice thin creamy head. I think it does have a Coopers-esque nose; sweet citrus and faint estery notes. Palate is ok, more citrus fruity notes (albeit mild) but the sweet syrupy adjunction, corn syrup flavours do detract. Fizz at a good level. Easily the best LN beer I’ve had in recent times.